I saw a sentence from the English learning website that show an example " You stay away from those boys down the block, hear? They'll get you in trouble. " I don't know how to understand "down the block", why can't say "You stay away from those boys who live in that block." ?
Thanks, Weng
"Down the block" in this usage may indicate someone who lives several houses away, but in the same block. Or it may indicate someone who lives in the adjacent block, but I think more often the former. Compare "down the road", meaning some distance along the same road.
The term is informal.
see this SE.EL q&A
This Huffington Post story uses "down the block" to mean simply "nearby" or "in the neighborhood".
